The Travel Bug & Food Bytes: Yung Kee in Hong Kong

The usual pilgrimage to Yung Kee for tourists... I went there twice over 2 trips, and both times involved a wait of 30min (@3pm on a Sat) to 60min (@6.30pm on a weekday). Its unbelievable how busy the place is at all times. Since I wasn't in any particular rush, I volunteered to do the waiting on behalf of the rest of the party. Making a reservation is only possible if you do it with sufficient notice. Otherwise, join the herd of walk-ins squeezing in the tiny reception area on the second floor.

List of things to order is pretty standard. The only question is whether you want a portion, half or whole goose. *Shinta has decided that instead of ordering half a goose, next time just order 2 portions of the goose leg. That way you get the juiciest, most choice part of the goose. Strangely, the standard was a little inconsistent over my 2 visits there. The first time, the goose was hot with crispy skin and tender juicy meat sandwiching a generous layer of fat. The second time round however, the goose felt a bit overdone and not as yummy as before.

I'm a fan of the cured meats, although the rest of my companions each time weren't, and I had to struggle to finish it all. Next time I'll just order a portion of my favorite liver sausage and not the entire mixed plate. The traditional sausage is not bad as well, but not particularly special. These are of course available for take-away. Just slice it up and put it in the rice cooker, and let the fats drip into the rice as it cooks.... mmmm.....

When I accidentally forgot to order the famous century egg with pickled ginger the first time round, the waiter not-very-gently reminded me about it. These melt-in-the-mouth delicacies don't have the pungent strong taste that haunts many other century eggs. Believe it or not, these can also be bought as take-away in a box of 6, which I ended up doing so for friends back home in Singapore who were craving this particular Yung Kee version of it.

I wasn't particularly keen to order this when they brought it around on a tray offering it to each table (not sure why they did that...), but my friend likes it a lot so we took a plate. It was nice and gooey, but in general a bit too sweet for my taste.

There are a whole lot of other good dishes to order at Yung Kee (the first 5? 6? pages of their menu lists all the accolades they have won), but unfortunately my party was never large enough (or hungry enough) to indulge in ordering anything more than the "must-orders". Next time I guess!

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Yung Kee
32-40 Wellington Street, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2522 1624
http://www.yungkee.com.hk/
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The Travel Bug & Food Bytes: Lan Fong Yuen in Hong Kong

Other than stopping by HKIA for flight transfers to various parts of China, I had the chance to spend a few days there for my own leisure a few times as well.

A few years ago, mango related desserts were really popular in Hong Kong and there were branches of Xu Liu Shan popping up everywhere.

Now, however, they seem to be mostly on Kowloon side and I couldn't find any around Central at all. Instead, when I needed a break in between shopping, I headed to Lan Fong Yuen near the mid levels for their famous milk tea.

Obviously you don't go to this kind of place for the ambiance. Much as I wanted to try the hot version, the stifling weather (unusual for autumn) forced me to go for the cold milk tea. Exhausted and dying of thirst, I probably enjoyed this a lot more than I normally would, because it was a little bit bitter.

Since each time I went it was just supposed to be a "pit stop", I had to restrain myself from ordering the heavier dishes. Went instead for the sweeter stuff such as the toasted bun with condensed milk. While it looked great, my sweet tooth would have prefered a more generous topping of the condensed milk.

The other well-known snack there is the french toast. This one was as unhealthy as it looks in the photo below, and as delicious as it was unhealthy.

I had a bit of trouble finding this place initially. Gage Street is not exactly a major road and hard to find amongst the confusing maze of back roads. The easiest way is probably to head to Lyndhurst Terrace where the famous Tai Cheung egg tart bakery is.

Entrance to Gage Street is along Lyndhurst Terrace just before the shop, and Yan Fong Yuen is on the left at the start.

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Lan Fong Yuen
G/F, 2 Gage Street, Central, Hong Kong
Tel: +825 2544 3895
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The Travel Bug: Jiangsu, Suzhou

Passed through Suzhou on a business trip and was there for a really short while only, so I count myself lucky that I managed to visit one of the many gardens Suzhou is famous for. This was the Humble Administrator's Garden.

I loved wandering around the paths surrounding by water and gorgeous green plants.

Even the flower gardens were beautifully arranged.

We could also enter the buildings and admire the old Chinese furniture.

Imagine if your study window looked out into this view.

The other area I managed to see was the Suzhou Industrial Park. There's an eating area very much like Clarke Quay by the lake where there are many both international and Chinese restaurants located. Taking a walk by the lake after dinner was a very pleasant experience with the cool weather.

There's a saying "上有天堂，下有苏杭". From the little that I managed to see of Suzhou, I think there's something in it! If you're in Shanghai for holiday, given Suzhou's proximity especially with the high speed train operating, there's no excuse for not visiting the place.

The Travel Bug: Jiangsu, Nanjing

I've seriously lost count of how many times I've flown to China this year for business... Not just Shanghai and Beijing, but the smaller cities too. That's usually a pain because either transfers via HKIA or long car rides are required. One of the perks however, is getting to scout out cities to see if they're worth going to for my own holidays, and staying in hotel rooms like this:-

Was going around Jiangsu and passed through its capital, Nanjing. Sadly didn't have time to check anything out, except for a 10min walk by Xuan Wu Hu.

Our dinner was held near the Qin Huai River, allowing us a good view of the activities.

At night the entire area is lit up, and you can see the Confucius Temple which is popular with tourists. River boats also ply the area for tourists willing to fork out the cash.

Nanjing looks quite interesting if you're into Chinese history and all. For me though, I think I like Suzhou better, which will be the subject of my next post.

The Travel Bug: Sichuan, Jiu Zhai Gou (Part 2: Waterfalls)

I'm afraid I've put off doing this second part for way too long, and have now lost interest in typing out a long story about it. So I won't! Suffice to say that since Jiu Zhai Gou is know for its water, water + mountains = waterfalls!

You can get really close to the rapids and water (spy the staircase on the rhs?), but I don't recommend putting any body part in. It would be such a shame to dirty the crystal clear waters, and this is a nature reserve after all.

We must have been to about 4 waterfall areas, each one gorgeous in its own right.

Some required a little walking to get too, but nothing more strenuous than a relaxing 20min stroll.

I tried to play with the shutter speed...

... but with no tripod (and even if I had one on me, the hoards of tourists nudging me along the narrow path would have made it difficult to use it) it was not so easy to hold the camera steady.

If you look on the left of the photo below, can you see a face with the mouth wide open? Freaky!

Another attempt at playing with the shutter speed...

Slightly more successful this time!

All in all, I was very glad that I signed up for the trip. Would definately recommend anyone going to Chengdu to make a side trip there, especially if the season is right!

The Travel Bug: Sichuan, Jiu Zhai Gou (Part 1: Lakes)

The day after Huang Long was the "main course" that we had come for... Jiu Zhai Gou! We were understandably nervous from the previous day, but this time the guide assured us that we just needed to take short walks on and off the bus. The park is not open to external buses, so it was either take the internal "public" bus, or pay extra to get a private bus for a group. We paid extra of course. *Sigh*.

Luckily.. JZG didn't disappoint! The next 3 shots are of "Huo3 Guang1 Hai3" aka Sparkling Lake although the literal translation is "Fire Light Sea". And sparkle it did!

Despite not being the "perfect" time to see JZG, this weekend was supposed to be super crowded because it was a holiday in China. We were quite fortunate that the crowds were tolerable, the weather was good, the flowers were in bloom and there was water in the lakes!

Well there's not much to say except that the lakes are gorgeous. Beautiful crystal clear blue waters... You can see the fallen logs and branches in the water!

Surrounded by lush green hills...

I included the shot below to show how clear the waters are. This place is like so "not Chinese"... It was well maintained and no litter around despite a lack of dustbins! Also, while Chinese tourists swarmed some spots, it wasn't *too* crowded and there were still plenty of chances to get "people free" pictures.

I think we hit a total of about 4-5 lakes while we were there... They were all a short 5-10 min walk away from where the bus dropped us.

I love this next shot for the beautiful reflection in the still waters...

The next 2 photos really display JZG at its best I think. Starting from snow capped mountains at the top, followed by hills covered in a multitude of greens and browns, and then the rainbow coloured waters with little pebbles and short grass at the bottom.

The reflection of the mountain could also be seen in the rainbow coloured waters. There was also the opportunity to dress up in traditional Tibetan costumes (for a fee) and have your picture taken by the lake. Quite a novelty for many!

The next shot was taken from one of the highest elevations in the park.

This little pond is supposed to be filled with water all the way to the brim of the depression, and then you can see the rainbow colours as well. Sadly it was still too early in the season.

Another shot of the crystal clear multi-coloured waters. You can see the details of the gravel and individual stones all the way to the bottom!

I didn't include photos of every single lake that we saw. Sadly my Chinese (and memory) are not good enough to remember all the names and the stories behind them as well. If you go there, hopefully you're with a large enough group to get a private tour bus as well, the guide onboard will know where to go!

The Travel Bug: Sichuan, Huang Long

Since we were already in Chengdu for work, some colleagues and I decided to extend our trip by 3 days and do a side visit to Jiu Zhai Gou. The trip was arranged as a semi-customised private tour (read: no useless visits to tourist traps for shopping), and to be honest, most of us didn't pay attention to the detailed itinerary. So while we had in our minds that we were visiting Jiu Zhai Gou, few paid attention to the fact that we would be visiting a place called Huang Long on the first day (read: we had no idea where were going and what it was going to be like).

The experience was certain one to remember for all the wrong reasons...

1. We started off already exhuasted

Had just ended a full week of meetings and discussions. Enuff said!

2. Early hours

Not many needed the 4am wake up call because after the official programme ended at 10pm the night before, some did the usual "explore local culture" by hitting the clubs. In fact, some got back to the hotel barely minutes before the coach was due to depart for the airport at 5am.

3. Flight delays

From 7am to 10am. 3 hours waiting/sleeping at a domestic airport in China is no fun. We found out that this was because of bad weather at the other airport. Guess this one is kinda understandable, given that we were flying over mountains and valleys.

4. Altitude sickness

We were totally unprepared! Because we hadn't paid attention to the fact that we were going to Huang Long, not a single person in our group of 30+ realised that we would be hitting 4000+m altitudes. That's high enough for the guide to warn us not to fall asleep in the bus... in case we stopped breathing and they didn't realise it until too late!

We bought medication and oxygen on the spot, but it didn't help as much as we would have liked it to. Some of us were nursing throbbing headaches the entire day. Not the best condition to be in while trekking (see #6 below), and not in the best of moods to enjoy the beautiful view.

5. It's the wrong season

We didn't even know we were visiting Huang Long, much less that it was totally the wrong season to do so. Huang Long is famous for the beautiful pools of coloured water due to the minerals. But because it was the wrong season, almost everything was dried up and just boring rock.

6. We took the cable car up

Maybe it was the guide's broken English, maybe it was our own fault for not asking. Because it was the wrong season, there was only one area right at the top of the mountain which had water. So we took the cable car up 3000m, without realising we would have to walk another 1000m uphill.

This photo was taken right at the top, and was the only pool area on the entire mountain with water.


There are supposed to be 7 colours in total during the right season, but sadly we only saw a bright blue, mixed with brown and green.

7. Walking down is worse!

Some how it had slipped our minds that taking the cable car up 3000m and walking a further 1000m up meant having to walk down! I think what most of us had in mind was a leisurely stroll downhill for about.. maybe 30min? We definately weren't prepared for a 4-5h trek which was 20% uphill steps and 80% downhill steps (read: horror on the knees) while nursing a lack of sleep and throbbing headaches from altitude sickness.


Later on we found out that in the right season, the entire trek down would have been filled with beautiful pools of water and rivers running along the way. Most people in fact don't take the cable car up, but just do short treks at the lower altitudes. *NOW* they tell us!!!

I will leave it to you to imagine how bad our knees and calves felt the next day and the entire week after.